The Empathy Gym

Our theatre is an empathy gym where we come to practice our powers of compassion. Nelson Mandella, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Ghandi; these are the olympic athletes of empathy. But the rest of us need to go to the gym. It’s tough to be compassionate in everyday life. We get cut off in traffic, get our purse snatched, get knocked down, our house broken into, our country is threatened. It’s tough to be empathetic. But from the darkness and anonymity of our seats, we are safe to risk entering into the lives of the characters on the other side of the proscenium. We feel what they feel, fear what they fear, love what they love, and hope for what they hope for. And along the way, with our one hundred hearts beating together in the dark, we realize that under the skin we are the same. And as we leave, we take that miraculous spirit of unity out into the world to make it better

Much as Ezekial and Jeremiah spoke to the Hebrews about imminent calamities and the moral corruption of their times, our modern playwrights speak to us. Born with ultra-sensitive antennae, they draw from their experiences, kernals of truth that most of us miss. Lost in our lives we lack the ability to see ourselves. We’re too busy living. Our playwrights distill their visions into stories that illuminate, that help us see, that give us the perspective we crave, that send us back out into our lives with renewed purpose to grow and to make our community better. Join us at SF Playhouse and help us present these important voices that speak the truths we crave.

Our theatre is an empathy gym where we come to practice our powers of compassion. Nelson Mandella, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Ghandi; these are the olympic athletes of empathy. But the rest of us need to go to the gym. It’s tough to be compassionate in everyday life. We get cut off in traffic, get our purse snatched, get knocked down, our house broken into, our country is threatened. It’s tough to be empathetic. But from the darkness and anonymity of our seats, we are safe to risk entering into the lives of the characters on the other side of the proscenium. We feel what they feel, fear what they fear, love what they love, and hope for what they hope for. And along the way, with our one hundred hearts beating together in the dark, we realize that under the skin we are the same. And as we leave, we take that miraculous spirit of unity out into the world to make it better, one play at a time.

Quote from Coraline. "How big is the soul?"

Why theatre? Theatre tackles the three big universal questions of mankind. 1.) What is the nature of our reality? 2.) How do we fit into that reality, 3.) How then shall we act?

Cormack McCarthy, in "Sunset Limited" makes a direct head-on run at question #1. What is behind our experience? What is the meaning of existence? Not much in life is possible or meaningful without an answer to this most basic question.

It is our job in theatre to pick these ancient questions up, shake the dust off them and hurl them at our audience. And hopefully as they reverberate around the room, we will all renew our curiosity and desire to ask?

Why theatre

I'm just about to start rehearsals for "The Sunset Limited," by Cormack McCarthy. I found a quote from Mr. McCarthy, author of "No Country for Old Men," "The Road," and the pulitzer winning, "Blood Meridian" He says, "I have no respect for authors who fail to deal with matters of life and death. Mr. McCarthy certainly earns his own respect in "Sunset Limited." Two men, slammed together on a subway platform, spend a few hours together in a tenement flat in NY City, in a brilliant verbal duel on the meaning of life.

Coming to grips with the misogyny in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a sobering process. It seems like every where we turn in the story, we find some woman is at the heart of the problem. Ratched, Billy's Mom, the chief's mother, Harding's wife, on and on. So, as theatre artists, how do humanize this?

The capacity to identify with another is greater in some of us than in others. It takes practice. And commitment. What does it feel like on the other side of that face we see opposite us. We believe that we are similar enough, that we suffer the same kind of pain and enjoy the same kind of pleasure. But it is a natural human tendency to project the worst motivations on people when we get in disagreements with them.

Theatre can be one of the greatest antidotes to this destructive capacity. When we see and identify with behavior on the other side of the footlights, we take a wonderful leap into the heart of another that can transform our capacity to identify.

Everytime we start a new production, this time, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," I remind myself how deeply spiritual the work we do in the theatre is and honor our charge to reach deep in our souls for the spiritual truth of our characters and our stories, so we can serve our community with a connection so vivid and palpable that it shakes us and makes us proud of and humble in our humanity.

Let's dedicate our work on "Cuckoo's Nest" to all those who have been squashed, limited, or destroyed by the awful power of institutions.

Go team!

The lights go out, the actors bow, the audience applauds, perhaps they put a few buck in the jar, but what happens then? How does the theatrical event affect lives, how long does the experience hang in the mind of the witnesses.

I find myself often standing alone in the theatre after the show thinking, "Wait! Let's talk about this." I'm hoping we can build a culture of dialogue after the show and correspondence after the night.

Let's try to facilitate more post show discussions and a flow of dialogue that lingers. How can we best do that?

I read this terrific little book called "Tribes" It's a marketing book, but it struck me that SF Playhouse is a "Tribe." We've all been brought together by a love of high impact intimate theatre. The book suggsted that in a good tribe, the communication flows easily from leaders to tribe, tribe to leaders and tribe to tribe. It would be so great if we could make that happen at SFPH

Theatre is not the end result but the springboard that throws our audience into a process of re-examination, growth, change, action. Then everything we do must be based on what we want the audience to leave with.

How can we measure this? Keep them around. Make sure that the theatre space can accommodate a dialogue with the artists afterwards. Or at least a dialogue between witnesses.

Working on a new mission that expresses how we aim to change our community:

Here's a try.

To promote brotherhood and understanding in our community by harnessing the power of intimate, professional theatre to amplify our empathy for the experience of others.

Or:

To harness the power of intimate, professional theatre to promote brotherhood and understanding in our community by amplifying our capacity to identify with the experience of others.

Or:

A promise:

We promise to present adventurous, professional theatre that wil resonate beyond the final curtain.

Comedy and the Four "E's"

I've been thinking more about a "Season of Comedy." as we narrow the field of season choices. Susi and I were in London to see "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" Wow, what a tough comedy. Tough on the human condition, that is.

I have been hearing concerns from subscribers that our season will be "fluffy." Well, I think probably there will be one "fluffy" comedy next season, but even with this one(still a secret), we'll be looking for the dark side everyone else missed.

Trying to think of a slogan for the season brochure, I came up with "The Power of Laughter: To Escape, Expose, Enlighten, Empower.

It helps us escape from the worries of our lives, it exposes all of Pandora's qualities of human folly, it enlightens us about aspects of our lives and our culture of which we weren't aware, , and last, it empowers us to take what we learn and act. To change something about our lives or our society that needs changing.

Comedy holds "the mirror up to nature" and gratefully makes us laugh! Otherwise we might have to cry.

I was at the opening of "Lydia" at Marin Theatre Company, and one of our subscribers cornered me to ask about our Seventh Season dedication to "The Power of Laughter." He wondered if that title didn't give the impression that we were headed in a "silly" direction. I reassured him that we would simply be doing more of the type of comedies we have become known for. Edgy contemporary plays, comedy, but often with a dark side. His comment made me think about the nature of comedy. And how tough comedy can be. And how many social agendas can be pursued with laughter.

Comedy is often painful as it turns the mirror of theatre back on ourselves. We laugh at and with the characters and often we are laughing at our own foibles. It's wonderful that we have this safe place we can gather to look at human weaknesses and yearnings and loves and hates and hopes and failures. And do it all with laughter.

We can use the power of laughter to transform our lives, to escape, to change unjust situations, to satirize our societes' weaknesses. Of course, we also might want to just let go and be silly.

Why should we support theatre? People are losing their jobs, their homes. Our economy is in the toilet. Shouldn't we be giving all our money to the poor? I suppose it's easy for artists to see themselves as necessary. We all want to be necessary. But why? What is the necessity of art? Of theatre?

Simply, art, and theatre, create two indispensible things. Brotherhood. And Hope. Without these we are lost. But how do we manifest brotherhood and hope through art? Through theatre?

Art proves that we can work together. A cast of actors, directors, designers, technicians and witnesses are all necessary to create a theatrical event. An event that we create out of nothing. In theatre, we prove that we can work together to create something out of thin air that cannot exist without all of us. Brotherhood.

Theatre also uses empathy to literally force us to identify with others. We see that we have more in common than we have differences. We see that we are brothers. And sisters. Under the skin, we are all the same. Deeply embedded in the core of theatre is this belief. We all share the same love, hates, fears, joys. Theatre promotes brotherhood.

Theatre also promotes hope. If we humans can band together to create this world on stage out of nothing. If we can imitate life successfully enough that people suspend their disbelief, then we can in our real lives change the way things are. We can transform our world.

The world of the dramatic hero, the protagonist, is a world where something is wrong. Where something doesn't work. And the hero must struggle. To right a wrong. To improve her lot. To change someone else. To escape a hell. And the hero has hope. And shows us the way. With determination. And courage. Even when he loses.

Welcome to the San Francisco Playhouse's Blogspot!

The San Francisco Playhouse is dedicated to not only providing its audience with the most thought provoking, eye opening shows of our time, but also to creating an environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and avid theatregoers come together as a family to celebrate that which drives the inner most part of all of us: the human spirit.

This website will be used as a way for our friends and family to keep updated and express their thoughts in a comfortable, open environment.

Our next upcoming show is "Landscape of the Body" by John Guare, and is directed by Bill English, Artistic Director for the SF Playhouse, and includes in the cast Susi Damilano, Producing Manager for the SF Playhouse. What a great opportunity to come and become acquainted with not only the intensely thought provoking shows that we do here at the Playhouse, but also with some of the extremely talented and spiritually motivated people who make the magic happen! For more information on the show and how to order tickets, Click Here.

We are located at 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco, California, 94102. We can also be reached by phone at (415) 677-9596 or by email at info@sfplayhouse.org. Click Here to join our family, or Here for more information on who we are!

We look forward to you joining our family!

Sincerely,
The SF Playhouse